The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday lauded a change to World Health Organization (WHO) regulations that would require it to respond to calls for assistance from Taiwan in dealing with the SARS outbreak.
"This seems to provide a legal basis for exchanges between us and WHO over future work on SARS prevention and containment," Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Michael Kau (高英茂) said.
The World Health Assembly (WHA), the WHO's top decision-making body, passed a resolution on Tuesday requiring the WHO director-general to "respond appropriately to all requests for WHO assistance for SARS surveillance, prevention, and control."
According to Kau, Beijing failed in its attempts to insert in the resolution a phrase that would have made WHO assistance subject to "approval of the national government concerned."
But the US, Japan and Taiwan's diplomatic allies also failed to add a condition to the resolution that would have allowed Taiwan to take an active role in the WHO-led fight against SARS, Kau said.
A Central News Agency report from Geneva said Sha Zukang (沙祖康), China's representative to the UN in Geneva, expressed his anger at the passage of the resolution in his statement to the WHA meeting.
The foreign ministry said the resolution was a severe blow to Beijing's attempts to block any direct links between Taipei and the UN global health agency.
But Kau said it remained unclear how the head of the WHO would interpret the resolution if Taiwan sought help.
"It'll very much depend upon the WHO director-general's morals and courage," Kau said.
South Korean tuberculosis expert Lee Jong-wook will replace Gro Harlem Brundtland as head of the organization in July.
The Department of Health yesterday reported another 50 probable SARS cases, bringing the total to 660.
The number of deaths remained unchanged at 81.
The department said of the new cases, 40 were suspected SARS cases that had been reclassified as probable cases after doctors reviewed their files. The other 10 were new cases whose symptoms had developed during the previous 24 hours.
The department has reported an average of 10 new infections a day this week, compared with a record 65 new infections last Thursday.
Of the 660 probable cases, 122 had recovered, it said.
There are another 1,158 suspected cases -- patients with fevers and coughs but whose chest X-rays do not indicate pneumonia.
Health officials said some of these cases were being reviewed and may be reclassified as probable cases in the future.
However, an official at the Center for Disease Control said he did not expect many of the cases to be reclassified.
DEFENDING DEMOCRACY: Taiwan shares the same values as those that fought in WWII, and nations must unite to halt the expansion of a new authoritarian bloc, Lai said The government yesterday held a commemoration ceremony for Victory in Europe (V-E) Day, joining the rest of the world for the first time to mark the anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. Taiwan honoring V-E Day signifies “our growing connections with the international community,” President William Lai (賴清德) said at a reception in Taipei on the 80th anniversary of V-E Day. One of the major lessons of World War II is that “authoritarianism and aggression lead only to slaughter, tragedy and greater inequality,” Lai said. Even more importantly, the war also taught people that “those who cherish peace cannot
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
‘FALLACY’: Xi’s assertions that Taiwan was given to the PRC after WWII confused right and wrong, and were contrary to the facts, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday called Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) claim that China historically has sovereignty over Taiwan “deceptive” and “contrary to the facts.” In an article published on Wednesday in the Russian state-run Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Xi said that this year not only marks 80 years since the end of World War II and the founding of the UN, but also “Taiwan’s restoration to China.” “A series of instruments with legal effect under international law, including the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Declaration have affirmed China’s sovereignty over Taiwan,” Xi wrote. “The historical and legal fact” of these documents, as well
RSS